Today was all sunny this morning, so we were off on a leaf collecting walk! I have been wanting to dip some leaves in beeswax and today I thought would be the perfect day! It was! The girls loved picking out the prettiest leaves and walking around our neighborhood. When we got home they glued some of their leaves on paper in different designs while I dipped them in beeswax! They turned out super well and very pretty! They are the perfect addition to our nature tray! I have moved our nature tray into our living room and it is nice to see all the little things that we have picked up on our walks! This is the first time the girls are actually putting things on it! In case you dont know what a nature tray, it basically is a tray that the children (or the teacher) will add natural objects that are either found or collected for observation. The tray sits on a tray and the child is free to observe, clean, match, touch, and just explore what is there. It is a great hands on way for the kids to connect with nature! I love having magnifying glasses available in case there is something that needs to be observed more closely! I know that some other things that I have seen in other nature tray are nature guild books, three part cards, and sometime an aquarium for any little critters that come to visit! I am hoping that as the seasons change we can change the tray too. I would love to see lots of pretty things out from nature accessible for them! My dream is to find an old typeset tray and use it for our things and then sort them by color! I like a beautiful natural rainbow! I think that it is easy for me to forget that nature is everywhere and even a walk around out neighborhood can be a source of natural discovery! Sometimes my girls will find things just playing in our backyard and I love that they are so drawn to nature and can find it everywhere! How do your kids play, explore, and discover nature?
Now the questions I am talking about are all my own! I am really questioning the quality of the work that is being done here. If you have any thoughts on this I would love some input! I really love the great lessons and I love the way everything goes together, but I feel like I am grasping for straws trying to figure this out! Bunny has a lot of interests, and we are learning new things, but I feel like these things are sporadic and disconnected. We talk about electricity, conifer trees, rocks, horses, and now Helen Keller. None of the work is connected and I feel like we should have a longer term project or some way to direct things better. But I really have no idea how to do this without telling her what to do. Plus her inability to read and write well makes it harder to have her work independently. I want to have things all connected, but I feel like we have to move forward with the albums. But I think she loves the album work and I have a hard time figuring out how to give her regular presentation and still have time to do research and still have time for Pup. Poor Pup has been a little left out since I have been so busy with Bunny's work and she is ready for more, but I just dont have time unless Bunny works more on her own! So what to do? I want to do so much more and I think we are going to need to put in more time, but I also need to keep other things going too like cleaning, cooking, and all the other mommy thing! What do you do? How long do you school and how do you deal with more then one age level? Again, if you have an idea, please share! :) I hope you are all having a great start to the week! I am linking up to
Montessori Monday, so be sure to stop by there for more Montessori fun! Happy Schooling!
I love your nature walk photos, how fun! (My son and I walk to school, and it's a nature walk each time! I think we're ready to build from that with all his treasures.) I see you have a lot of questions and I thought maybe you'd like to join my Montessori Facebook group. (I felt like my Montessori blog, with less commenting over the years, wasn't enough, so I started the group and I'm so glad I did!) If you want to join, you have to do it from your personal Facebook and not your Montessori Facebook page: http://www.facebook.com/groups/LisaNolanMontessori/
ReplyDeleteLisa, can anyone join? I blog at http://theadventuresofbear.blogspot.com and even though we are not truly doing Montessori at home I still love to learn everything I can about it!
DeleteJulie
Thanks so very much Lisa! It sounds like a great group! Thanks for the invite!
DeleteOur "school day" is about 1 1/2 hours total. Not including life skills, practial living skills, outdoor time, laundry, cooking or breathing;)
ReplyDeleteWith regards to feeling disconnected you are correct it is all over the place but you could pull it together... Ex. Helen Keller a girl who learned through various ways... Letstry that.. ear muffs, no talking, feeling things with eues closed to truly observe in a diiferent manor. How would she collect nature items by feel, texture, color,...etc... When weather changed for her how dod she adjust or tell peole what she needed. Where she lived did the seasons change..if yes how many times? What would you wear back yhen.... Lets feel wool...
Think outside of the "box" & pup will enjoy it too!!!! Hugs you are amazing
Ashley
Thanks so much Ashley for your encouragement! I was thinking of doing something like that too! I think both girls would love it. I just feel like I am always scrambling trying to get things together for a short interest. I am not sure if it is normal or not. We need to hit a stride and go with it. Hmmm...it will work out! Thanks ever so much for your thoughts!
DeleteOne of the reasons I felt I had to leave Montessori at our house and go the Classical route is that I felt I wasn't able to give J-jo enough of my time and still set up the environment the way I wanted for Bear. Here are some ideas that may help you get more time with Pup, without taking away from the Montessori environment. I set up my morning so that Bear works on things I don't need to "present" or teach. She has at least 30 to 45 minutes of independent work all in a row so that I can work with J-jo mostly uninterrupted. Perhaps that would be when Bunny is choosing more independent Montessori choices, such as the math that she can do independently but still needs to practice, or practicing writing (penmanship) or doing fine motor work that will improve her writing. Our school day is long - 3 to 4 hours but it is mostly because Bear takes a long time to do her work.
ReplyDeleteI know just what you mean. I really do feel way out of my depth! I read over at the Broad Stair and that Anna has been presenting one great lesson every 5 weeks. This lets the kids all work on something from each lesson! I really like that idea because we skipped over so much! So I think that I need to find a way to offer Bunny some choices of study in order to make sure that we can get some things done and make it sure that we spend some time on it! Thanks for stopping by and I will keep you updated! :)
DeleteI love this walks in the morning!!! Everything its sooo beautiful.... love that colors! Here you know its Autum, just with the almond tree!!lol... otherwise, still summer!!lol Love your nature tray.... INSPIRING as always!! I send you an email about your questions!!
ReplyDeleteHugs
Karen
We are buying a new system at school, that has all the materials listed in the order they are presented. They are also colour coded so that you don't go too far ahead in one area but don't even remember to introduce something else. This might help you with the core subjects.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the cultural subjects go, I would go back now and reintroduce the first great lesson and spend some time really looking at some aspects of it. If it helps at all then I would say that the first great lesson is all the work in the geography album. The second great lesson is zoology and botany, the third, fourth and fifth are mostly history and physical geography. It doesn't matter when the subjects are covered but having a list where you tick off the subjects covered as you go - the solar system and space cover a lot of presentations, then you will know not to repeat those but choose a different focus next time you present the great lesson. If you have a list then you and Bunny can plan together what your focus will be. She can always return and deepen her knowledge but it will give you more of a focus and something to base it on. You have six years to cover everything so panic not!
Which brings me to work plans. These give you both a chance to plan days, weeks and months. Part of your problem (it seems to me from reading your blog) is that you are not sure about how you want your days to go, or your weeks or months to go. Following the child does not mean letting them do what they want. It means providing the best environment to let them learn. This might mean keeping to the same structure every day, or making a plane each day with both girls, in a way that they can understand and check with. So, you could decide that every day you work with one girl from 9- 9.30 and then swap. Or it might mean that you decide this on a daily basis at a family meeting and it depends on what you need to present and what the girls want to do.
I think Bunny needs to know what has to be done each day and what her choices are. A work plan would help that. She needs to know what you expect (a phrase I often use is "I expect..."). This gives the children a firm idea of what they need to do.
For you, it might help to list the lessons from albums the come in each great lesson. Then you will see that every lesson is from a great lesson and feel more confident that over 6 years you will present everything. You have only done a month of your first year!!
I am ever so glad you had a moment to weigh in here! First of all your new system seems like an amazing idea! I love that it is color coded and helps to make sure everything is done!
ReplyDeleteYou comment really helped!I need a plan! When I read about your 6 week Great Lesson I thought it was brilliant and we need to go back so to speak. I like that she has heard all the stories, but we need to go deeper and make them count. I stopped doing work plans last year, but I think that this year we are going to need them more. She needs to understand what needs to be done each day. This I think would help with getting Pup's work in. You are right. I also think that there is going to be things that I can overlap with Pup's primary work and that will make things easier for me. For example, I can work with both of them with Botany. If I start with the early presntation for Pup, then go deeper with Bunny. This means we are all going to do some of the cultural work together. It may be more fun anyway! But do you ever have a kid that just keeps hopping from subject to subject almost daily? Bunny just seems to want to know about everything, but she is really just grabbing surface informantion about it all. Do you make them stick to a subject or let them hop around. Like Bunny will love conifer trees for a couple of days, but then want to learn about horses. Both are good subjects, but she never really gets deep information.
As for the other subjects, I think I need to make a list like your color coded system of what come first and when to do it. Maybe I will write out presentations for 6 weeks and do them. What doesnt happen can carry over, but at least there is a plan! I really appreicate you taking the time to answer me. I know that I had a moment of panic, but I dont want to let it all go and then have a huge problem later on in the year. It is just overwhelming and not having seen the great lessons in action anywhere ever, it seems like I am floundering! But I will get this and like I keep reminding myself, I have 6 years! At least I didnt mess this up totally yet! ;) Thanks ever so much!
You are doing really well, Stephanie, so don't beat yourself up. The most important thing is that learning is happening.
ReplyDeleteIn my classroom we have all sorts of learning styles. Some children will spend weeks on one subject and others hop from one to another completely unrelated subject. I use a few things to help me and them. The first is planning. If a child is interested in something then I get them to plan what they want to find out. At the most simple level I get them to ask themselves between 3 and 5 simple questions. I work with them to make sure it isn't too complicated or too easy or simply not a proper question. We also work out where the information will be found - 3 part cards on the shelf, a book, an internet site. This will depend upon the child's reading ability more than anything. If I have a good reader paired with a slower reader I will remind the older child to read the book to the younger. I sometimes prepare materials myself. Finally we decide on the type of report it will be - poster, talk, power point presentation, book, pamphlet etc. It helps to have real life examples to show. This is written up as a contract and we both sign it - I give a date for it to be handed in and it is signed off once it is completed. There is always an opportunity to share it with the class if the child wants.
For the work plan, I have a six week plan of what I want to present, which I give to each child at the beginning of each half term. this is based on where they are in the albums and is a rough guess of where I hope they are in 6 weeks time. This can only be for maths and language. Great Lesson work is decided as above on a more ad hoc basis. However, we also have the Key Lessons each week, so even if the child doesn't follow up immediately I know the seed has been planted. It often flowers after weeks or even months so the lessons are worth it. I think spending longer on a Great Lesson will allow you to spend more time on related subjects. Even if Bunny jumps from volcanoes to planets to space travel to parts of the earth - they are all related.
I plan 4-5 lessons a week for each child, knowing that I will probably only give 2-3. I use the scope and sequence to see what the next lessons should be and as I give them I cross them out and put the date. This info goes into the child's file. An easy way to make a file like this for Bunny would be to copy the contents page of each album into a grid, with the columns labelled Presentation; Dated presented; Working on; Mastered. I have marked the end of each sequence of work to show that I must no go beyond there until all the presentations/work set are completed. For instance, in grammar, I don't move onto Verbs until the noun/article/adjective sequence has been mastered. In maths, not until the addition strip board and memorisation sequence has been completed. Then I put a piece of work that shows this at the end of the album. So, a piece of work with all the articles, nouns and adjectives symbolised, or the final piece of work from the addition sequence. Your blog is also great evidence if you were ever inspected.
Perhaps you need to focus more attention on helping her to read and write well and less time researching whatever whims she has. When her reading and writing skills are more proficient, she will be a more efficient, independent, and engaged researcher. In her adult life, it will be much more important that she is able to read well and communicate in writing effectively than to know a lot about horses or conifer trees.
ReplyDeleteI am not trying to be mean, so I hope you are not offended.
What a great discussion! I love the work plan idea. I also agree that you can feel free to slow down and cover each Great Lesson in depth. You'll be amazed at how much your girls will learn in a few years!
ReplyDeleteI love your nature walks and nature tray! I featured your post at the Living Montessori Now Facebook page and added your nature tray photo to my Nature Trays and Nature Tables post at http://livingmontessorinow.com/2010/10/25/nature-trays-and-nature-tables/